Revision work for week of May 6th

Congratulations! You have finished a draft. Now, I'd like you to revise your work a little each night to make sure you turn in the best paper you can. Here are my suggested focus areas for each day:

Monday: Introduction: To exceed the standard in this area, your introduction needs to "engage reader and clearly set up focus of narrative." Here are some questions to ask yourself:  
Did you use specific details and/or anecdotes to illustrate the trait you most want to convey about this person?
Is each paragraph focused on one trait? (In other words, did you avoid the "kitchen sink" paragraph?)
Is there specific language or evidence which reflects your voice and the spirit of your subject?
Tuesday: Organization and Evidence: To exceed these standards, you need to:

•  focus each paragraph with a clear first sentence, use transitional devices. (See a sheet for examples of transitional devices here: http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/trans2.html ) and have a logical sequence of events

• weave the BEST evidence into your story with sophisticated fluency 

To do this, ask yourself these questions:
Does each paragraph have a clear purpose to the narrative?  Do you make a paragraph break for each new idea?
Do the sections of your paper make logical sense? Do they build upon each other in a satisfying way?
Did you use transitional devices to make the transitions between anecdotes or points?
Does your evidence represent your point in the most compelling way?
Does your evidence weave into your narrative? Did you avoid large block quotes in most instances?  
Block day: MLA and Narrative Technique day! 
You should have proper MLA format. This includes a header, a first page header, proper parenthetical citations and quotation format and a proper Works Cited page. See OWL resources on biography page or the sample paper at top of blog.
Narrative technique: To exceed this standard, you should utilize description, reflection and pacing. Also, you should use compelling diction, avoiding generic words that are either bland or cliche. In other words, use the VOICE you have been developing all year. 
Friday: Standard English Conventions: To exceed this standard, you need to have minimal errors in grammar usage. This is the stage where you should ensure you have complete sentences (and no run-ons), a variety of sentence structures, no errors with commas, semi-colons, colons, apostrophes, homonyms etc.

FINAL DRAFT OF BIOGRAPHY DUE MONDAY, MAY 13.